Camp Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 I think I just lost one of my USB hard drives. It comes about 2 weeks before I was going to buy a drive specifically intended to backup the data on it. :mad: The drive contains about 80 to 100 GB of music and I'd really like to get it all back. Anyone know of a way to possibly save some of the data? I don't know what's wrong with the drive. Windows "sees" the drive but cannot read it in any way. In fact attempts at accessing the drive sometimes result in Windows Explorer crashing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Would it help to try a Linux LiveCD like Knoppix to see if it can read the drive? The only thing I know of is the freezer trick and it seems like a last resort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 You can do a search on the web for hard drive file recovery software as well. I can't remember the name of the one I used for a friend in the past, but I was able to get all of the data off the drive even though it was not bootable anymore. That was with an IDE interface, not sure how well it would work with a USB drive. I've heard the CD bootable Linux OSes are good for this as well, like Knoppix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Daisy Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Most USB drives are just IDE drives inside of an enclosure. You may be able to "crack" the case and take the drive out and try the freezer trick. Glen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Taking the drive out of the external box is a good idea. Before doing anything else, I'd try to add it to the IDE bus inside the computer. It's very possible that the problem is with the enclosure/cabling and not the drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camp Posted January 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Thanks guys...looks like I've got some reading to do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 The drive contains about 80 to 100 GB of porn and I'd really like to get it all back. Fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob B Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Fixed. :rotflmao I did not even catch that on the frist pass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camp Posted January 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 I'll really miss the "Nasty Mom's of LCVGers" directory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendak Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 Hard drive failures...I'm all too familiar with them. With over 7 terabytes of storage on my media servers (I do video production work), it's a regular occurance. The freezer trick has worked for me on numerous occasions (used it as a last resort) and it worked long enough for me to be able to copy the data off. Sometimes a few files got corrupted but I usually got the majority off. I have also had luck with Runtime's "GetDataBack" http://www.runtime.org/ - this app has read some truly fucked up drives for me in the past, including ones that Windows "sees" in Disk Management but can't access any of the partitions. I believe there is some sort of demo or trial version available too. BTW I learned to mostly use Maxtor's as their replacement process is so easy, and they usually send you a better drive than the busted one. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeyN Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 You can also try the program CD spinrite . Leo Laporte always recommends it. Created by Steve gibson who is on once and a while on This Week iN Tech Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camp Posted January 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 Most of the stuff I'm finding won't work via USB...Looks like cracking the case and connecting to an IDE channel will be my only option. That's going to be a big mess because my PC is stuffed full of HDD's (2 serial ATA and 2 IDE drives). I need to spend an afternoon with this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenMonkey Posted January 22, 2006 Report Share Posted January 22, 2006 I have also had luck with Runtime's "GetDataBack" http://www.runtime.org/ - this app has read some truly fucked up drives for me in the past' date=' including ones that Windows "sees" in Disk Management but can't access any of the partitions. Good luck [/quote'] I had luck with GetDataBack myself... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derrik Draven Posted February 10, 2006 Report Share Posted February 10, 2006 ...what's the freezer trick? :eh I've got an idea that a freezer is involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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